I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 706 The overall trend

Soon, Cheng Yin, Candidate, Yang Qiu, and Li Kan led their soldiers to Longxi County to join Zhang Fei.

Of course, the process of leading their troops to Longxi County to join Zhang Fei was not very smooth.

After all, although these leaders of the Xiliang rebels were originally well-known local tycoons in Liangzhou, their family's strength alone was not enough to support them in becoming a warlord.

Even a small group of rebel warlords have many supporters behind them.

Therefore, the quality of these small rebel armies is more complicated. In fact, their armies do not completely obey their own orders. Many rebel generals in the army are actually controlled by the powerful counties in Liangzhou.

Therefore, when these people wanted to entangle their soldiers and horses and go to Longxi County to defect to Zhang Fei, only some of the generals and soldiers were willing to accompany them to Longxi.

The other group of soldiers and horses had a secret relationship with the powerful people in western Liangzhou, or could not be separated. These people immediately called on the soldiers and horses to rebel against the warlord leader who wanted to defect to Zhang Fei.

Cheng Yin, Candidate, Yang Qiu, Li Kan and others did not dare to stay for a long time. After internal strife broke out in their various tribes, the four of them immediately expelled the rebels, and then led the remaining troops and horses in a hurry towards Longxi County. go.

Of course, the expulsion process was not so smooth, and there were bloodshed among the troops.

After Han Sui learned about this, he couldn't help but became furious. He immediately led 20,000 elite soldiers, borrowed Ma Chao and other powerful generals from Ma Teng, and chased Cheng Yin and others from behind.

It was not that Han Sui was carried away by anger, but that he knew that this incident would have a great impact on the rebels.

Once these rebel leaders who betrayed him were allowed to escape safely and successfully to Zhang Fei, Han Sui's reputation would plummet.

At that time, other small rebel leaders who were attached to Han Sui saw that those rebel leaders who had defected and returned to the imperial court were living so well.

At the same time, after they betrayed Han Sui, he didn't do anything to them. This might very well lead to other people being dissatisfied.

After all, if there is no loss or cost to defection, everyone will want to give it a try.

Therefore, Han Sui must make these four bastards pay the price for daring to rebel.

He wanted everyone to see what would happen if they dared to rebel against him.

Only by giving the most severe punishment to these four people, everyone will know how miserable Han Sui's fate will be for betraying him, and this can serve as a warning to others.

However, what Han Sui could think of, Zhang Fei could also think of.

After following Liu Jian for so many years, and practicing in the border counties of Youzhou for so many years, if he couldn't even think of this, or couldn't do it, then Zhang Fei would not be qualified to serve as a general of the Liangzhou Construction Corps!

Zhang Fei quickly organized his soldiers to ambush on the main road leading to Longxi County!

Han Sui was anxious to kill the four rebels, so he advanced his troops in a hurry. He did not expect that Zhang Fei would plan to ambush him.

In this way, Zhang Fei and Xu Rong conducted a perfect ambush on Han Sui's army on the high loess slope north of Xiangwu.

In this ambush, Zhang Fei used 5,000 elite crossbows that Liu Jian transferred to him from Hebei. These crossbows were all the latest models recently produced in Hebei!

Hebei's crossbow machine can be said to be the biggest nemesis of the cavalry, especially in this kind of ambush battle, the damage it causes to the opponent is even greater.

In this battle, Zhang Fei slaughtered almost half of Han Sui's 20,000 elite troops, and suffered over 10,000 casualties.

For Han Sui, this was the first time in his life that he personally commanded a tragic defeat!

The arrows released by Hebei's crossbow machines were like blocking out the sky. After several rounds of shooting, Han Sui's cavalry brigade was basically defeated.

At this time, Zhang Fei personally led the cavalry he brought from Youzhou to launch an assault!

The Liangzhou rebel cavalry, which had been shot by powerful crossbows, was in disarray. Facing the sudden Youzhou cavalry, they could only passively take the beating.

They had no formation to defend themselves against each other.

Zhang Fei took the lead, leading this elite cavalry to charge around the opponent's battle formation.

Han Sui himself could no longer withstand the huge attack pressure and led his troops to retreat to the rear.

But among the rebels Han Sui borrowed from Ma Teng, there was one general who couldn't stand it2.

This general is Ma Chao.

Ma Chao led a group of his personal cavalry to Zhang Fei's flank in the rebellion. With his own bravery and vigor, he used the spear in his hand to drive away several knights under Zhang Fei's command.

Ma Chao's brave performance soon attracted the attention of Zhang Fei and other Youzhou cavalry.

However, Zhang Fei did not take Ma Chao as his main target. He still led his cavalry with the main purpose of attacking Han Sui's military formation and attacking the effective forces in the enemy army.

As for Ma Chao's harassment from the side, Zhang Fei just sent his generals to stop Ma Chao and not let him affect the progress of his main army.

However, although Zhang Fei's Youzhou cavalry were all elite, it was not easy to stop Ma Chao.

After all, Ma Chao is too fierce, and the personal guards around him are all elite knights in Ma Teng's army. These people go crazy and fight without mercy. Even Zhang Fei's cavalry is somewhat powerless.

Just when Ma Chao was fighting the enemy bravely, he saw the vanguard of Zhang Fei's troops suddenly switched over, and Zhang Fei himself suddenly rushed towards Ma Chao's position with the Zhangba snake spear in his hand.

Zhang Fei's carbine attack was a bit off guard, and Ma Chao was very surprised.

He immediately adjusted his condition and led his troops to fight Zhang Fei.

When it comes to youth and vigour, the current Ma Chao is indeed far ahead of Zhang Fei, but now Zhang Fei is in his prime, and is at his peak in terms of bravery, knowledge and courage!

Ma Chao still looks a bit immature when playing against Zhang Fei at this age.

Especially in terms of military experience, it is far less than Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei was a famous general of the Han Dynasty. Ma Chao was very eager to fight Zhang Fei. When he led his troops to fight Zhang Fei, the cavalry of both sides galloped up and down the loess plains.

As Ma Chao rode his horse, he shouted loudly at Zhang Fei who was not far away, wanting to fight him.

Facing Ma Chao's provocation, Zhang Fei remained unmoved at all. He just rode his horse and ordered his sergeants to carry out guerrilla attacks on Ma Chao's troops.

Zhang Fei, on the other hand, charged and killed the enemy on his own. Faced with Ma Chao's shouts and invitations to fight, he seemed unable to hear and did not bother to fight with the opponent at all.

Ma Chao was furious when he saw Zhang Fei despising him so much, so he rushed towards Zhang Fei's location even more fiercely. But he didn't expect that he would fall into Zhang Fei's plan. Zhang Fei had long heard of Ma Chao from Lu Bu, and knew that Ma Teng's son was very brave and good at fighting. Even when he fought against Lu Bu for a long time, he never lost.

For such a fierce general, Zhang Fei's original intention was to have a good showdown with him, but now Zhang Fei has a heavy responsibility. He alone shoulders the military mission of the entire Liangzhou. It is impossible for him to fight with a leader from Liangzhou. The young men fight to the death.

He only did this deliberately to arouse Ma Chao's anger and make the opponent more reckless. In this way, Zhang Fei could always find the right opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the opponent.

Ma Chao was too young and had a reckless personality. His military experience was far less than that of Zhang Fei, so he suffered a big loss in this regard.

Soon I saw that Ma Chao's sprint speed became faster and faster, and because he was too angry, the distance between him and the guards around him gradually increased. It was this distance that allowed Zhang Fei to find a perfect opportunity. !

He suddenly ordered the vanguard around him to take out the short crossbow and shoot at Ma Chao, who had broken away from the Guards.

Ma Chao never expected that Zhang Fei would use such a trick!

Moreover, the knights of the Hebei Army hid short crossbows very deep. At first, Ma Chao did not see that they actually had short crossbows. At first, he thought that these Hebei knights were only good at archery at best.

Who would have thought that they would have such a sharp weapon hidden around them!

In fact, this is because Ma Chao has insufficient combat experience, or that he has insufficient combat experience with the Hebei Army!

The craftsmanship and manufacturing art of the Hebei Army was among the top in the Han Dynasty, and even the craftsmanship specially provided for the imperial court was incomparable to Hebei's weapons manufacturing.

Hebei's soldiers and cavalry have numerous side-by-side weapons and a variety of attack methods.

This matter is not a secret among the many enemies in Hebei, but the number of times Ma Chao has fought with the Hebei Army is too few.

He doesn't have enough experience to deal with such unexpected situations!

Today, Zhang Fei taught Ma Chao a lesson!

The arrows shot by those short crossbows are different from ordinary arrows. They are both tricky and difficult to dodge.

Ma Chao rode too fast, and soon he was hit by an arrow in the right chest. Fortunately, the armor on his body was very thick, and the arrow did not hit his vital part, so he was not able to kill him. life.

After Ma Chao was hit by an arrow, he roared and fell to the ground.

After seeing it, the guards behind him hurriedly ran up and rescued Ma Chao from the loess before Zhang Fei and others could react!

As soon as Ma Chao fell, the attacking morale of the army he led naturally dropped. They could no longer compete with Zhang Fei, so they had to retreat hastily.

Zhang Fei, on the other hand, relied on the advantage of ambush and the morale boosted by defeating Ma Chao, and continued to pursue deeply, fighting while driving Han Sui's army away.

In this battle, Han Sui originally wanted to pursue Cheng Yin, Yang Qiu and the other four to establish their power, but he did not expect that the power was not established. In the end, he lost more than 10,000 men and horses, and even caused Ma Teng's son Ma Chao to suffer. He was seriously injured. For the rebels in Liangzhou, this was a battle that was enough to shake their morale!

Zhang Fei did not go too far. After expelling Han Sui, he collected the baggage and returned to Longxi County. He knew that it would not take overnight to completely pacify Liangzhou. The war was important, but the pacification work after the war was even more important. importance.

After the battle, Zhang Fei went back to collect the troops of Cheng Yin, Yang Qiu, Candidate, and Li Kan. At the same time, he appointed them as captains according to the imperial decree, and rewarded them heavily, so that all Liangzhou soldiers Everyone has seen that as long as anyone is willing to surrender to the imperial court, even if he was a rebel before, as long as he sincerely submits, he will have a good future and a good destination.

The plight of Han Sui's troops, as well as the candidates, Li Kan and four other people, greatly damaged the morale of the powerful people in Liangzhou and shook the determination of the Qiang people who supported the powerful people.

The Qiang tribe in Liangzhou was not deeply bound to the powerful people in Liangzhou counties. They also helped the local powerful people to fight against the Han court in order to survive better.

After all, the original court was too far away from these Qiang tribes, and at the same time it did not have enough protection for the local Qiang people. In addition, the court's use of troops in Liangzhou was not ideal, which resulted in the local Qiang people always being resistant to the court. and contempt.

But with the arrival of Zhang Fei and Liu Biao, everything changed.

One of the tasks Zhang Fei and Liu Biao carried out in the four eastern counties of Liangzhou was to provide the Qiang tribe with many preferential policies, including farming, childbirth, etc. The local government offices would provide subsidies to the Qiang people.

At the same time, as long as the Qiang people take the initiative to join the Han people, Liu Biao's Liangzhou Governor's Department will provide them with financial and food subsidies.

This is also a strategy to expand the population of Liangzhou itself.

Zhang Fei and Liu Biao showed full friendship to the Qiang people, and Zhang Fei now won a great victory in Longxi County, which further increased the power of the imperial court!

Therefore, many Qiang people who were originally wavering began to fall in love with Zhang Fei and Liu Biao, which further fueled the arrogance of the Liangzhou Production and Construction Corps!

Zhang Fei also took advantage of this trend and began to send people to Jincheng County to recruit local Qiang leaders and secretly communicate and negotiate with them.

Jincheng County is the base camp of Han Sui and Ma Teng. If Jincheng County is captured, the rebels will basically be finished in Liangzhou.

At the same time, "On Yuan" has also been sent to Yuan Shao's hands, and today's "On Yuan" has great influence in the Han Dynasty.

Now the results of the public opinion offensive created by Liu Jian in various places have reached Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao prepared a grand funeral for Hongnong King Liu Bian and He family in Wancheng.

I thought it would deal a heavy blow to Liu Jian's momentum, but it turned out that everything he did was nothing compared to what Liu Jian did, and it was useless.

Nowadays, the nobles in various places still have official and private schools. They have strong opinions about Yuan Shao sending troops to Hongnong County to capture King Hongnong and causing his death. In addition, with the publication of "On Yuan", all the nobles have strong opinions on the Yuan family. The evil deeds committed in the past are evident.

In their view, the Yuan family has done many shady things for generations, and it is normal for Yuan Shao to start this business again.

It seems that the death of King Hongnong is probably inseparable from Yuan Shao.

There are also many rumors that Yuan Shao used the death of King Hongnong to undermine the prestige of the court.

In short, in this war of exchanges and slander, Yuan Shao was completely defeated by Liu Jian.

This blow was a huge loss to Yuan Shao.

The public opinion surrounding King Hongnong's death hurt him greatly.

Of course, this is a double-edged sword.

King Hongnong also died because of the conflict between Liu Jian's army and Yuan Shao, so public opinion cannot only point to Yuan Shao alone.

Of course, compared to Yuan Shao, Liu Jian suffered much less criticism from this wave of public opinion and less damage to his reputation.

After all, the person who suffered the most was the Yuan family, and the death of King Hongnong caused instability within the Yuan Shao Group.

Although the war between the north and the south of the imperial court is still ongoing, the overall situation is very unfavorable for Yuan Shao.

(End of this chapter)